This is confusing ...

[Rath Darkblade]

I already own DA:O (Ultimate Edition) etc., but just out of curiosity, I thought of looking into it on Steam/GOG.

On Steam, the price is $40 and it tells me "Hard Drive: 20 GB".

On GOG, the price is $30 and it tells me "Storage: 40 GB HD space". *raises eyebrows*

I'm confused. Does anyone know why there's such a difference? An extra few megabytes, maybe - but another 20 GB? What is GOG doing with all that space?

[notbobsmith]

GOG also list the size as 22.9 GB on the right of the page. Just a guess, but 40 GB might refer to the size required for installation, i.e the amount of space needed after the game files are created but before the installer is deleted.

[Tawmis]

I believe NBS is correct.

Similar to Windows Updates; it may be 500MB (just making numbers up here) - but that actually launches something, that unpacks (similar to unzipping) a ton of other files it needs to have available to access/read/etc., to install.
So the update might be 500MB, but the space required my be 3GB, because of what it unpacks.

I use Windows Updates as an example, because all too often at work, when people call about repeated failed Windows Updates, one of the number one reasons is low disk space. And it's always the same.

"The update says 500MB, I have 2.1GB free."

"Trust me. Free up at least 10% of your HD, at all times."

Does so.

"Oh, well then why don't they say that!"

"Because the update IS 500MB, it just unpacks more than that when it installs."

[Rath Darkblade]

Ah! OK, I get it now. Thanks!

[Tawmis]

I was just thinking - Steam also doesn't download the entire thing to your machine does it?
I feel like I remember looking at some Steam games; and the properties always link back to Steam itself rather than an executable?

[Rath Darkblade]

Hmm, you're right. I'm not sure how that works, then... the properties always have some sort of link back to Steam, yet Steam games have always worked for me even when I'm not connected to Steam.

How does that work? Now I'm confused again.

[Tawmis]

Hmm, you're right. I'm not sure how that works, then... the properties always have some sort of link back to Steam, yet Steam games have always worked for me even when I'm not connected to Steam.
How does that work? Now I'm confused again.

Majority of my games I get online are GoG; I do have like 30 games on Steam, but honestly rarely play them.
So I am not familiar with how Steam does things.

[notbobsmith]

I was just thinking - Steam also doesn't download the entire thing to your machine does it?
I feel like I remember looking at some Steam games; and the properties always link back to Steam itself rather than an executable?

As far as I know, Steam installs the game in its entirety. When you look at the game folders, they look complete. (Click on "Local Files" when you look at Properties) At least, I've never encountered what you are describing.

[Tawmis]

I was just thinking - Steam also doesn't download the entire thing to your machine does it?
I feel like I remember looking at some Steam games; and the properties always link back to Steam itself rather than an executable?

As far as I know, Steam installs the game in its entirety. When you look at the game folders, they look complete. (Click on "Local Files" when you look at Properties) At least, I've never encountered what you are describing.

If you click the properties of the shortcut it shows stuff like:

steam://rungameid/804270

[notbobsmith]

Not sure how that works. It might be a custom script they use. Otherwise the games themselves are located in the

C:\[where ever you installed Steam]\Steam\steamapps\common

directory.

[Rath Darkblade]

Hmm - I think I found how it works. Here, from Stack Overflow.

The Steam application is basically its own browser, with its own language. Valve has a user manual for it, too.